Hi all.  Since August 2004, I have been suffering with pain and vision
troubles in my left eye, and at this point, no one has a good
explanation as to why.  Long story short, I've got pain around the left
eye and in the cheek bone area, along with some focus troubles
(blurred/double-vision).  Also, every doctor visit I've had a low grade
fever (99 to 100; typically I'm around 98.1).  I've had a CT that
indicated some fluid in the left maxillary sinus, but an ENT ruled this
out as a possible cause.  I've had an MRI of the ocular area and brain,
which didn't indicate anything out of the ordinary.  I've had multiple
rounds of antibiotics (for possible sinusitis).  Each round seemed to
help for a few days or more, but the problem always came back.  I've
been to the dentist, who found some cavities (working on getting them
all filled), but he didn't believe that would cause the eye problem
either.  Now, I'm again on the antibiotics, which helped for a couple
of days, but the pain and blurred vision is back again.  The severity
varies from very bothersome (it's interfering with my computer job) to
barely noticeable, but it's always there.  I'm really getting
stressed/frustrated and I'm about at the end of my rope.  I'm hoping
someone out there can help.  That said, now for the long story....

My vision history is this... I have a slight misalignment or eye drift
in one eye (I believe the left eye is actually the good one, but I'm
not sure).  It's not really noticeable to look at me, but when I was
around 15, the optometrist told me that I might have to do something
about it when I was older (i.e. glasses, and he didn't mention
surgery).  At that point my vision was around 20/30 I think.  In my
early twenties, a new optometrist basically told me the same thing, and
he also diagnosed a diagonal astygmatism for which I received glasses
(but I didn't have to wear them all of the time).

Along with the vision troubles, I've always had problems with ear and
sinus infections.  At age 25, I had sinus surgery for chronic
sinusitis.  A couple weeks after the surgery, I had some trouble in one
eye (don't remember which).  As I recall, it was like I had looked at a
bright light and still had that bit of afterglow (sorry, that's the
best description I have).  The opthamologist (bad spelling, sorry)
chalked it up to being a floater and said that it would go away on its
own, which it did in a few days.  He also noticed my misalignment and
said that if I had lived with it that long, I should probably just
continue to live with it.  He did mention surgery as an option, but he
kinda steered me away from that.

After that, I was fine (well, except for the less than perfect vision)
until August 2004 (I'm now 28).  At first, I just noticed that I was
having blurred and/or double vision from time to time when I was
driving home after work.  At the time, I figured my eyes were just a
bit tired/strained.  Then, after a couple of weeks, I got that light in
the eye problem again.  This progressed until I was feeling dull pain
in my cheek bone, the jaw, above and around the problem eye.  I got to
the optometrist and he said I needed a new prescription (I hadn't worn
my glasses for awhile) and that the pain was probably just eye strain.
Somewhat unsatisfied, I went to a new opthamologist and he said that my
eyes weren't working together and added a prism to my new prescription.
A follow up visit three months later showed no improvement (I couldn't
wear the new glasses much, because they made things worse).  He then
set me up with a 6 mo. followup (later this year) and mentioned that
surgery might be necessary if I still don't show any improvement.

In the meantime, my family doctor, knowing my history, suspected a
possible return of the sinusitis and put me on antibiotics.  This
actually seemed to help, but only until I was off the antibiotics.
After two months of off and on the antibiotics and prednisone (again
for the sinuses), we went into a wait and see mode.  The problem did
subside a bit, but not enough to where I could wear and get used to my
new glasses.  Again, whenever I did wear them, the problem seemed to
get worse.

Now, my questions... Could all of this really be attributed to the eye
drift/misalignment?  Could sinusitis or tooth cavities play any role in
this (i.e. could either cause or make it worse)?  Why did the
antibiotics seem to help for awhile (again, perhaps sinusitis made the
eye problem worse)?  Would surgery be a good next step (even if I have
multiple problems, I could at least fix one thing at a time)?  Should I
go see a neuro/opth (the ENT recommended this)?  Is there any hope?

I'm just getting really tired of this and the stress is getting to me.
On top of that, about 4 weeks ago I became a first-time Dad.  That's
been tough, because I come home from work and I just want to close my
eyes and rest.

If you've read through all of this, thank you for your patience and
time.  I'd be open to any advice that you have to offer.  I'm starting
to get desparate for help.

Thanks.